The Gift (36 page)

Like a wallflower at a formal ball Sara sat in the corner of the bedroom all morning long, waiting for the invitation that never arrived.

She refused luncheon and spent a good portion of the afternoon pacing her room while she tried to figure out what her next step would be. It was terribly upsetting to her that the prince regent had ignored her urgent request. Caine had been right, she decided, when he'd said that the prince wasn't interested in the problems of his subjects.

Caine knocked on her door then, interrupting her thoughts. "Sara, we have a little errand to do," he said.

"Where are we going?" she asked. She started to put on her white gloves, then stopped. "I shouldn't go out," she explained. "The prince regent might still send word to me."

"You have to come with me," Caine ordered. "I don't have time to explain, Sara. Nathan wants you to meet him at the War Department offices in a half hour's time."

"Why?"

"I'll let your husband explain."

"Who else is going to be there? Why do we have to meet at the War Department?"

Caine was terribly smooth when it came to evading her questions. Jade was waiting in the foyer. Olivia was draped over her shoulder. "It's all going to turn out just fine," she told Sara. She was diligently patting her daughter's back.

The baby let out a loud belch. The sound made everyone smile. Caine kissed his wife and daughter good-bye, then gently nudged Sara out the front door.

"I'll have your gowns pressed and put in the wardrobe while you're doing this errand," Jade said.

"No," Sara blurted out. "I'll only be staying one more night."

"But where will you and Nathan be going?" Jade asked.

Sara didn't answer her. She turned around and walked down the three steps. Caine held the door to the carriage open. Sara sat across from her brother-in-law. He tried to engage her in casual conversation but quickly gave up when she gave him only whispered yes or no answers.

The War Department was situated in a tall, ugly, gray stone building. A musty smell permeated the stairwells. Caine took Sara up to the second floor. "The meeting's going to take place in Sir Richards's office. You'll like him, Sara. He's a good man."

"I'm certain I will," she said, just to be polite. "But who is he, Caine, and why does he want this meeting?"

"Richards is the director of the department." He opened the door to a large office area and motioned for Sara to go inside.

A short, heavy-bellied man was standing behind a desk. He had thin gray hair, a beak nose, and a ruddiness to his complexion. As soon as he looked up from the paper he was holding in his hand and spotted Sara and Caine he started forward.

"There you are now," he announced with a smile. "We're about ready. Lady Sara, what a pleasure it is to meet you."

He was such a nice gentleman, she thought. He formally bowed to Sara and then took her hand in his own. "You must be quite a lady to have captured our Nathan."

"She didn't capture him, Sir Richards," Caine interjected with a smile of his own. "He captured her."

"I fear you're both incorrect," Sara whispered. "King George captured the two of us. Nathan was never given a choice in the matter, but I would like to find a way to—"

Caine wouldn't let her go on. "Yes, yes," he interrupted. "You'd like to find Nathan, wouldn't you? Where is he?" he asked the director.

"Waiting for the papers," Sir Richards explained. "He'll be back in just a minute. My assistant is quite speedy. Don't worry, my dear, it will all be legal."

She didn't know what the director was talking about but didn't want to appear completely ignorant. "I'm not at all certain why I'm here," she admitted. "I—"

She quit speaking when the side door to the office opened and Nathan walked in. She couldn't remember what she was saying then, and when the pain in her chest started throbbing she realized she was holding her breath.

He didn't even acknowledge her but strode over to the desk and dropped two papers on top of a stack. Then he walked over to an elongated window seat and stood there staring at her.

She couldn't take her gaze off him. He was a rude, impossible-to-understand, stubborn-headed man whose manners were no better than a hedgehog's, she thought.

A knock sounded at the door, and a young man dressed in a guard's black uniform looked inside. "Sir Richards, the prince regent's carriage is down front," he said.

Sara heard the announcement, but she still couldn't take her gaze away from Nathan. He didn't seem to be at all surprised that the prince was on his way up the steps. He didn't appear overly nervous either, for he leaned against the wall and continued to look at her.

If he wasn't going to speak to her, then by God, she wasn't…

He crooked his finger at her. She couldn't believe his arrogance. Both Sir Richards and Caine were in deep discussion over some topic or other. Their low voices were still quite close to her, and she wondered if she'd been included in the conversation. Then Nathan crooked his finger at her again. It would be a burning day in heaven before she obeyed that rude command, she told herself, even as she started walking toward him.

He wasn't smiling at her. He wasn't scowling either. Nathan looked so serious, so… intense. She stopped when she was facing her husband, just a foot or so away.

God help her, she thought, she couldn't start weeping. He wasn't making her torment any easier to bear. He looked so damned satisfied. And why shouldn't he? she asked herself. All the man had to do was crook his finger at her, and she came running.

She turned and tried to walk away from him. He reached out and pulled her back. He put his arm around her shoulder and leaned down to whisper in her ear. "You will have faith in me, wife. Do you understand me?"

She was so astonished by his command, she let out a little gasp. She looked up at him to make certain he wasn't jesting with her. Then she remembered that Nathan rarely jested about anything. Sara was immediately consumed with an ger. How dare he demand anything from her? At least she had enough faith in him to lose some, she thought to herself. Her eyes filled with tears almost immediately, and all she could think about was getting out of the room before she completely disgraced herself.

Nathan suddenly grabbed hold of her chin and forced her to look up at him again. "You love me, damn it."

She couldn't deny it, and so she said nothing at all.

He stared at her for a minute. "And do you know why you love me?"

"No," she answered in a voice to match his. "Honest to God, Nathan, I haven't the faintest idea why I love you."

He wasn't at all irritated by the anger in her voice. "You love me, Sara, because I'm everything you could ever want in a husband."

A tear slipped out from the corner of her eye. He caught it with his thumb.

"Dare you mock me by turning my own words against me? I haven't forgotten that I said the very same words to you when we set sail for Nora's island. Love can be destroyed. It's fragile, and…"

She stopped trying to explain when he shook his head at her. "You aren't fragile," he told her. "And your love can't be destroyed." His fingers gently caressed her cheek. "It's what I've come to value most, Sara. I wasn't mocking you."

"It doesn't matter," she whispered. "I know you don't love me. I've accepted it, Nathan. Please don't look so concerned. I don't fault you. You were never given a choice."

He couldn't stand to see her anguish. God, how he wished they were alone so he could take her into his arms and show her how much he loved her. He was going to have to prove himself to her first. "We'll discuss this later," he announced. "For now I have but one order, Sara. Don't you dare give up on me."

She didn't understand what he was asking her.

Nathan turned his attention to the door when the prince regent walked inside the office. Sara immediately moved away from her husband, bowed her head as any loyal subject should, and patiently waited for her leader to address her.

The prince was of medium height and had dark, handsome looks. He wore his arrogance like a cloak around his shoulders.

Each man bowed to the prince when he was greeted, and then it was Sara's turn. She made a low curtsy. "It's always a pleasure to see you, Lady Sara."

"Thank you, my lord," she replied. "And thank you, too, for granting me this audience."

The prince looked bewildered by that comment. He nodded, however, and took his place behind Sir Richards's desk. The two men accompanying him took up their positions as sentinels behind their leader.

Caine was concerned that Sara might make another comment about the letter she'd written to the prince. He strolled over to stand next to her. "Sara, I never sent your note to the prince. It's still in my pocket."

Sir Richards was discussing the meeting with the prince, and since neither man was paying them any attention Sara felt it wasn't overly rude to whisper back. "Why didn't you send the letter? Did you forget?"

"No, I didn't forget," Caine said. "The letter would have interfered with Nathan's plans."

"Then it was Nathan who requested this meeting?"

Caine nodded. "Sir Richards also put in his request," he said. "You'd better sit down, Sara. It's going to get a little rocky. Keep your fingers crossed."

Nathan was leaning against the wall, watching her. He heard Caine's suggestion that she sit down and waited to see what Sara would do. There was a wingback chair across the room and an empty window seat next to him.

Sara glanced over to the wingback chair, then turned and walked over to Nathan. He was arrogantly satisfied with her instinctive show of loyalty.

And then he realized he'd come to depend upon that quality.

Nathan sat and pulled her down beside him in the space of a second. He almost leaned down then and there to tell her how much he loved her. He stopped himself just in time. It had to be right, he told himself. In just a few more minutes he would show her how much he loved her.

Sara edged away from her husband so that she wouldn't be touching him. She didn't think it would be appropriate to sit so close in the presence of the prince.

Nathan thought otherwise. He wasn't at all gentle when he hauled her back up against his side.

"I'm ready to begin," the prince announced.

Sir Richards motioned to the guard standing by the front entrance. The man opened the door, and Sara's father came rushing into the office.

As soon as she saw her father she instinctively moved closer to her husband. Nathan put his arm around her waist and held her close.

The earl of Winchester bowed to the prince, then frowned when he spotted the others.

He was about to request that the office be cleared, for the matter to be discussed was a confidential one, but the prince spoke first. "Do sit down, Winston. I'm eager to get this matter settled."

The earl immediately took one of the chairs facing the prince. He sat down and leaned forward at the same time. "Have you looked over the evidence I sent to you?"

"I have," the prince answered. "Winston, have you met our esteemed director of War Operations?"

Winston turned to Sir Richards and gave a quick nod. "We met a time or two," he said. "May I ask why he's here? I don't see that the matter has any bearing on his department. It's a question of breaking a contract, nothing more."

"On the contrary," Sir Richards interjected. His voice was as pleasant, as smooth as sugared ice. "Both the prince and I are very interested in just how you came by this information about the earl of Wakersfieid. Would you care to enlighten us?"

"I must protect the person who told me," Winston announced. He'd turned to look at Sara when he'd made that statement. His gaze deliberately lingered there a minute. Then he turned back to the prince. "How isn't important, my lord. Surely, after reading the facts, you've come to realize that my daughter can't live her life with the son of a traitor. She'd be shunned by society. The marquess's father didn't act in good faith toward the king or the Winchesters when he signed the contract binding his son to my daughter. I therefore demand that Sara be freed from this ludicrous commitment and that the gift be given over to her as payment for the embarrassment and humiliation she's had to suffer."

"I'm afraid I'm really going to have to insist that you tell us who gave you the information about Nathan's father," Sir Richards said again.

Winston turned to the prince for support. "I would rather not answer that demand."

"I believe you must answer," the prince said.

Winston's shoulders sagged. "My daughter," he blurted out. "Sara wrote to us. She gave us the information."

Sara didn't say a word. Nathan gave her a gentle squeeze. It was an awkward attempt to give her comfort. She didn't protest at all.

Don't give up on him, she thought. Those were his very words. Sara tried to concentrate on the important discussion underway, but Nathan's whispered command kept getting in the way.

Her father was giving one excuse after another as to why his daughter would share that damning information about Nathan's father. Sara didn't want to listen to those lies.